Prof. Dr. Ilona Grunwald has been Professor of Physiology and Head of the Institute of Physiology II at the Faculty of Medicine since January 1, 2022. She obtained her diploma in biology in 1999 at the Georg-August-University of Göttingen, after which she attended a graduate program at the renowned European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg. In 2002, she received her PhD from the University of Heidelberg, which is listed among the top 100 universities worldwide in the QS World University Ranking. Both during her studies and later as a postdoctoral researcher, Prof. Grunwald spent extended periods abroad, including at the University of California in San Diego and UCLA in Los Angeles. In 2017, she followed the call of the Technical University of Munich and accepted the professorship for Neuronal Control of Metabolism. Previously, she had conducted valuable research as an independent group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology in Martinsried near Munich.

Her motivation lies in understanding how nervous systems enable humans and animals to adapt to the constant changes in their environment in the short and long term, thereby ensuring their survival and the survival of the next generation. As a model organism, she primarily uses Drosophila melanogaster, a special species of fruit fly. This is one of the best-studied organisms in the world. Prof. Grunwald uses it to study the basic genetic, synaptic and neuronal circuit mechanisms in order to transfer them to other organisms. Her main focus here is how the perception and neuronal processing of sensory impressions such as odors or tastes can be altered by physiological states such as hunger and the reproductive state.

Prof. Grunwald has received several awards for her work, including the Otto Hahn Medal of the Max Planck Society, the Career Development Award of the Human Frontiers Science Program, the EMBO Young Investigator Award, and the Dr. Heinrich Baur Award. She has also been awarded an Emmy Noether Group Leader Research Fellowship and an ERC Starting Grant. Prof. Grunwald has been a Henriette Heart Scout of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation since 2021.